Sense and Essence

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There are many things in everyones life that looksmore complex and makes life more sensitive. Being sensitive is different from leading a sensitive life. When we understand the original sense of the complexity, things become more simple to handle. Once you are able to enjoy the essence of it we need to share this with everyone we knew to let them see more comfortable life. This is my attempt to share different senses and their actual essence after a better understanding.

"Lets make a Better Living"

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Buying a house is like a dream to many. Lack of prior info on many things will create many hurdles and black unwanted patches after its done. All these makes the owner to lose peace and satisfaction by the time he starts living in it. Since I have gone through many of these phases recently for buying a new flat, the sense of this blog is to share all my experience to give as much info as possible to it make better and satisfactory, once u start living in it. I tried to make it as simple as possible with necessary classifications below. I am expecting to add few more in my next blog as a 2nd part of this.

Before you BUY:

1. Check the history of the land in terms of what exactly it was earlier (watch out for burial grounds) and Plot approval by HUDA. Also check all previous history documents for 15 years (some banks ask for 15 years history docs when u go for a home loan), so that u dont have to run around reg office for documents. Also need to check the soil stiffness for better holding safety of the apartments, since it may be a filled up water well or lake.

2. If u have a Provident fund account from 5+ years with no previous withdrawals, u can use 90% from it towards new house. This should be opted after agreement with builder and before registration. U should go to PF office and pick some papers to fill that includes many details regarding the house u are opting to buy. Should attach with copies of floor, building and plot plans, Letter to detail Estimation of flat and how u r planning on the remaining amount, copy of agreement with builder Etc,. It may take 2-3 months to getit processed.

http://www.epfindia.com

2. If u want to go for Housing loan, keep in mind that its not to help us rather to use our situation. So nothing will be as clear as it looks. Be prepared for an overall expenditure of 30-50K (Ex for 10-25 lakh loan) to obtain housing loan. One more important point is the split of interest and principal in the EMI. Interest rates will be forced down and banks advertise to take more loans and the interests will be raised. Many feel that since its floating we can opt for increasing number of months than EMI. There is a paradox here that advantages only bank irrespective of the situation. When there is a rise in interest, the principal component will be reduced and adjusted to interest component so that the number of months will be increased. There will be many cases where the principal component goes below a minimum, so the EMI will be increased. One more worst option available in home loans is Pre EMI. Its just paying interest component to bank as a gift. Make sure u join into the new house and start normal EMI, for who cannot manage both

4. Try to choose a house that has minimum houses for the whole Apartment. Common area is a concept that consumes part of ur money and gives reduced Sq Ft to ur house that u use. It includes corridors, car parking, greenery, empty space between parking area and the main wall, open spaces in between flats or apartments when u go for a complete colony, parks, temple swimming pools etc,..Keep it simple to have more money spent for good Sq Ft for ur built-up house area. So overall prefer a colony that is a result of different small individual ventures and not one. This will reduce builders unnecessary profits and ur loss. It has one disadvantage though. Maintenance cost will be more per flat if apartment has less flats.

5. Make sure that u have multiple approaches till ur house. Multiple approaches should be connected from different main road from different directions. This will accommodate for increasing traffic in near future and more accessibility for u and for others to reach u. Try to have a close by RTC Bus route and Auto stands.

6. In my view its better to choose 2nd floor flat. First floor have more disturbances because of parking and drainage issues since all pipes from top will be blocked. Also from 3rd floor it becomes more lift dependent. U will have better air as we move up but if u have better gap between adjacent building, it will do. Also most of the apartments have approval till 2-3 floors and remaining will be built at risk. Check them in the approved apartment plan with the builder.

7. Drainage planning for the whole apartment to be checked with the builder and take advice from some experienced people to not have drainage issues in future.

8. Do not choose the house if the parking is at underground. Its always better if u have parking at ground floor.

9. Check the bore well depth to see if its meeting minimum depth in the chosen area.

10. Make sure that the watchman room is also built in along with other flats in apartment. Sometimes builders doesn't do it if no one notice it.

After Brick work:

1. Mostly all outer walls should have double brick wall which gives extra space before windows, that will be very handy in kitchen or Bathroom.

2. Take Photographs of all power pipelines on floor and on walls before they are filled with cement, which will be of good use when u have any modification or other plans in future.

3. Measure all room lengths with good tape to see if its matching to plan. This will give u a clear idea of mismatches of the advertised plan. Also need to calculate with builder to sum up complete area to match the prescribed complete area.

4. Avoid to have windows near to the door that lead us out of the house for safety reasons.

5. Customize house in a way that gives u good advantages when u live in it in future.

Final stage stuff:

1. Know before hand when the wires are laid and check every wire company and gauze with a know electrician when they r laid. Its good to ask builder before hand regarding every thing, in-terms of company name and quality, that is going to be used after brick work and see if it happens as said.

2. Check switches quality with know electrician.

3. plan Switch board points according to furniture and if u have small kids or kids expected, its not a good idea to have lower switch boards in any room.

4. Where ever u r planning to have Spike or plugs box for multiple power extensions, make sure to have good wire gauze and plug to withstand more current flow to avoid burnouts.

5. Plan properly all drain holes and check slope of land nearby to assist liquid flow.

6. Do not walk on Floor tiles till they r dried up. Should be very careful in this regard. Labour walk on them when they work and finally end up with inconsistent heights between tiles. After they are laid and dried tap them and check for hollow spaces which have more chance to break in future, gaps in-between and gaps to wall and cracked tiles areas.

7. No room should have obstructions ahead after opening the door (like a basin close to a bathroom door), unless the room is really big. This facilitates better space utilization and professional design.

8. Do not have transparent glasses to doors or windows to have better privacy even with open curtains to let more light come into the room.

9. Have empty switch points and extra plug points in every room which will be handy in future.

10. Check and have good company wood and bath fittings for longer life and durability.

11. While laying horizontal racks, like in kitchen where u place the stove, take into account the flooring
height before finalizing the rack's height.

12. All wood parts in house will finally come into consistent shape only after going through all seasons atleast

once. This is because wood is bought just before the requirement and it will be cheaper to buy wet wood than dried up one. Wet wood will be heavy and is vulnerable to climatic changes

13. When laying grills for windows, common problem is to have more gaps between the grill frame and the wood beading. This makes if less safer. Also make sure it is laid using all the nail holes provided for better
safety.

14. If u r expecting babies, plan for swing points before hand in bedroom and hall. Make sure it is hung from
horizontal metal bars inside roof to bear good weight. This gives feasibility to use it for adults later. Also
in houses with small kids, better to have all bolts at a higher level for all doors.

15. Ask beforehand for good Paint and putty finishing quality and follow it up.

Check points with builder:

1. Do not tell any modifications orally to builder. Have some proof and good follow up.

2. Finalize occupation date with builder before going for loan and ask builder what if he doesn't give the house on time.

3. Check Property tax, electricity and other payments with builder and finalize before joining.

4. Watch out for pent houses, which will eats up everyone's free roof area.

5. Used motors may cause problems after apartment occupation since it will be roughly handled by many during construction. So make a note to builder.

6. Occupation dates are bound to be skipped, so ask for separate finishing dates based on different type of works and be in regular follow up with builder to have better chances of getting things completed on time. Speak about compensation based on what builder might skip and ur feasibility.

7. Keep in mind that Generator will be connected very late by builders.

8. Build a watchman room and appoint a decent watchman with family before occupation.

Healthy reasons:

1. Every room should have air in and out windows, with no obstructions outside the window (above or adjacent) for healthy living. Good oxygen give purified blood.

2. Try to have fully open balcony with wide balcony design and not square one to make sure more opening is available for airation, it will be better to have it open to road.

3. More natural light and air should enter into ur house which makes u feel relaxed and better when living.

4. Avoid to take house on main roads or roads that are having good vehicle activity. Its better to have it as 1st parallel street to main road but still have wide roads and decent amount of trees to help children play or for walking and healthy breath.

5. Never choose an area that has some industries around. It adds to pollution through air and water. Make sure that you consume water and air that is not polluted by industries.

Workers Mind set:

Workers work in a different way than what we work at office. They will have multiple parallel contracts. So they don't come when u want. They come as per their plan and do as quickly as possible to windup things. So better to have regular check of what is happening and give instant feedback to builder if something goes wrong. For the same reason 9 out of 10 times they don't bother about any modifications that u ask for from their regular style of doing it.

Essence:

So the essence is to know beforehand as many things as possible in order to act accordingly and take proper decision in proper time in making a better and safe living

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Sense: India is not craving for citizens, but for responsible citizens

We often involve in discussions like
1. Many other countries moved further but not India
2. Traffic control or traffic sense in India is poor
3. Better to work outside India
4. Living would be more better outside India.

Many of us admit it and continue these discussions happily. Actually we are the best skilled labor in the world but unfortunately most of those doesn't work in India. May be they couldn't get proper opportunity for their skillet or they foresaw the problems here. Many aspects in creating a healthy or organized India doesn't lie on any system that will control, rather it lies in every ones mind. Simply speaking its just the thought of being responsible that should start in every mind for a massive change.Thats why India is not craving for citizens, but for responsible citizens.

Feeling responsible extends in everything that we do daily. Many of them are so simple to follow and yield great results in course of time. But everyone should follow them not expecting returns from it and should try to propagate these good habits for their next generations.

Traffic sense:

Avoiding usage of 4 wheeler unless its necessary facilitates more space on roads.

Parking in areas that's not meant for parking or parking in parking zone in a haphazard manner always trouble others and at some stage it will effect u in turn.

Wearing a helmet is a big problem for many bike riders. They either doesn't feel comfortable or they fear if they lose their hair style. They forget the fact that having a healthy head is more important. Similarly, wearing seat belts doesn't make the car driver comfortable. Many people wear them only near the traffic signal to avoid traffic police, forgetting the fact that u will be in trouble when encountering an accident.Following traffic signals is a biggest trouble in every street. Knowing the fact that population is increasing daily we never think of giving way for others in an apt situation. Everyone thinks to move on in their own way resulting in traffic jams.Driving vehicle drunk is another aspect causing many accidents.

Eco balance:

Optimal utilization of available water or any other natural resource would help up and others. Turning off public NALA taps if u see one will ensure better water storage.

Planting trees or at least saving existing trees offers better living environments
Usage of Dust bins to throw used items should be followed everywhere. Even if we find some crap like banana pealed off skin on streets should be thrown in dustbins.
Urinating on public places, walls etc , is a very uncultured habit. It should be done before coming on to streets or should use public toilets.

Smoking:

People who smoke are really adding up more pollution. I wonder how people do that in-spite of tags "Smoking is dangerous for health " on the packet. Many people say reasons like smoking improves in giving ideas or relief of mind tensions etc , which are bull shit. They also contribute in developing passive smokers.

Smoking community should understand the fact that they are contributing to fill the treasuries of the manufacturing companies with their wealthy health. Children now are starting to smoke from childhood which is a bad sign for the future.

Foreign Dumps:

Everyone should contribute is reducing usage of foreign products and try to seach of an alternative indian made to help our economy. This can seem complex but they can be started from quiting drinking cooldrinks, which doesnt do any good to anyone, and start consuming coconut water or fresh fruit juices preferably made at home.

Monday, June 28, 2010

When I saw 'The Matrix', I was actually thrilled with the way Wachowski brothers pictured Neo's exploration about his strengths. In a broader sense it had very good theme in it. It relates to everyone's life trying to prove themselves. Unfortunately most of them couldnt achieve what they are aiming for since they don't know their strengths. Reaching your own-self and understanding it is more important in setting up a goal. Then the journey never become painful rather enjoyable.

The Meditation

Coming back to our relation with the matrix concept, may sound strange but its a fact, when Neo gets into the matrix he tries to learn to be in a different time dimension. Then he starts controling everything around him. When we examine our self doing things that we like the most, we will be in a state where our brain would be more relaxed and focused on what we are doing. We then get utmost results in it. This state is like we are in matrix while doing it.

For example Sachin tendulkar plays cricket being in matrix state where all his senses are active in achieving only on thing ... "Hitting the Ball". So its all about knowing how confident you are in certain tasks and try to achieve similar concentration on things that you are lacking. This process to improve concentration on something is called Meditation. It makes you more confident in things that you do.

Improvisation

Bullet Dodging was the best stunt at the end. It shows Neo's improvisation of his strength and becoming more confident on himself. This is possible when we have confidense in the work we do and proper assesment of our own caliber in doing it.

Then with full boost in confidense Neo's mind starts seeing things different than others and it becomes more simple to him to handle the fighters.

Finally movie ends with Neo flying, defying gravity completely. This means that after we start to extend our boundary limits we can then do things that we never thought we could.

Beyond

In the second part, Reloaded, Neo continues where he left off. And at the end he understands that what ever he has done in matrix is because of his confidense and not because of going into matrix. So he could disable sentinels in normal world, even without even touching them. This means even though we had lot of improvement in our abilities, somethimes we will have some unnecessary dependencies in our minds in doing certain task. When we deal with these dependencies then we move beyond and be independent.

Responsibility

"With great power comes great responsibility". So now what you are capable of doing many great things you should also know the proper application of it and decision making in doing it. Since by then you will know that certain task could only be done by you, you should take the responsibility and complete it properly.

Essence :

Everyone has something special in them. Success will follow when you know and apply your strengths.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Life is never a cake walk. It will be a mixture of everything. We just need to enjoy the taste of it.

Sense:

Taking the outcome positively makes you move further rather than thinking the other way which can only dump you.

Plans in-vain

Whatever we plan will always be dependent on many other factors that wont be in our control. Plans often go wrong because of the way we planned it not considering some dependencies. Instead of thinking of the time you have lost in this planning and its execution, its better to understand where you went wrong so that you learn from it and do better next time. This would not only help you to boost yourself in current situation but also saves you a lot in future when you apply it.

Need honey but no money

Some people will be having too many thoughts in mind that we want to do but they wont be having any resources to execute them. Actually we need to understand that wherever we go situation would always be the same. There will never be enough resources as per plan. So when we understand this fact we can stand strong and then our mind works better. Then we will get a thought to do them in a different way to achieve it with available resources. Eventually we would be doing what we want and also derive a new way to achieve it. In general, if we had more resources we can never think of a more efficient way to do the same task.

Sharing knowledge shouldn't be reluctant

The knowledge we have is always good to share. Some people feel like, if we share what we have learnt others would become more competent. But in fact if we do not share there are two things that we are missing. One is that we may be missing what the other person would share back with us and secondly if you really have a habit to learn you will never stop. In many ways sharing helps others and sometime later you will also get it back from others that you have shared with.

Disease become more active in weak minds

Having a physical problem or a disease shouldn't stop everything unless it kills you in less than a day. Problem becomes more stronger if our mind weakens. First thing is to properly asses the problem to know what is that we actually lose. you can asses yourself better than anyone else. Then try to take necessary steps to make sure it doesn't disturb you every hour and see if the situation can be brought back to normal in course of time. Plan your life in advance so that if there's a day when your problem is reduced or solved then you will be ahead in life. That way a bad happening could be transformed as a positive thing

Essence:

Improving in possessing a strong mind always helps in withstanding tough situations. Decision made would also be proper so that you don't lose your future and would be able to convert bad happening into positive things in life. Then you can enjoy every thing that comes your way.